Some automotive vehicles are designed to fold the rear seat in such a manner that an area over the folded seats is provided for carrying cargo. It is particularly desirable to include a rear most seat which rests on a raised load carrying platform when in the upright seating position and folds forwardly of the load carrying platform when in the forwardly folded position. The seat should fold in such a manner as to become an extension of the load carrying platform when in the forwardly folded position.
One such an assembly is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,736 issued Oct. 14, 1980 to Lebault et al. This patent discloses a seat pivotal about a front frame member to a forwardly folded position. When in the upright seating position, the rear of the seat is locked to the vehicle floor by a locking member. When folded to a forwardly folded position, a portion of the locking member projects upwardly from the vehicle floor. Further, a portion of the locking member extends outwardly from the bottom of the seat. This creates a dangerous situation in that projections extend outwardly from both the load carrying platform and from the rear of the vehicle seat.
The U.S. Pat. No. 1,648,608 to Matthews issued Nov. 15, 1927 discloses a vehicle seat assembly which is pivotable about a front frame member to a forwardly folded position. When in the forwardly folded position, the bottom of the seat becomes a part of the floor. The system is deficient in that there is no means by which the seat can be locked in the upright seating position.
There remains a need for an efficient assembly for use in very compact vehicles.